[Bit#51] Locusts: The Time Bomb Transformation of Peaceful Vegetarians

1. Solitary and Isolation: The Secret of the Ordinary Green Locust

The locusts we casually encounter in the bushes are remarkably gentle and peaceful green gentlemen. Scientists refer to the locust in this period as being in its solitary phase. Locusts in this state live as thoroughly strict individualists. Even if they happen to meet another locust in a wide field, they do not welcome them at all. Instead, they are busy fleeing far away from each other as if it is an annoyance. Why is that? It is because these insects instinctively experience intense stress when a member of their own species approaches closely. Staying separated and living alone is their inherent survival strategy. Their body color also takes on a vivid green camouflage color that perfectly matches the fresh surrounding grass. It is a desperate effort to completely blend into the surrounding environment to evade the sharp eyes of predators.

Their appetite is also exceptionally moderate. They live quietly day by day, nibbling on a very small amount of grass just as much as they need for themselves. Their activity levels are low, so they spend long periods staying in a single spot, and their wings are not very long either. Every single action is cautious and quiet. Until this moment, no one could ever imagine that this docile insect would later turn into a terrifying calamity threatening the food supply of humanity. However, behind this peaceful appearance lies a dangerous biological time-bomb. If the environment shifts even slightly, a completely different, destructive instinct that has been fast asleep deep inside the locust’s genome is ready to awaken. The solitary locust is merely harboring the silence before the storm, hiding behind a leaf.

2. Friction and Transformation: The Rampage of Serotonin Governing the Brain

An unpredictable and colossal ordeal one day confronts the locusts who were living peacefully on their own. Due to rapid climate change, situations arise where severe droughts strike or food becomes noticeably scarce. When the fields completely dry up, the locusts begin to swarm from all directions into the few remaining patches of green grass in order to survive. Consequently, a phenomenon occurs where countless locusts become densely crowded into a narrow space.

From this moment, a horrific tragedy begins. The locusts are placed in an environment where they have no choice but to constantly bump into one another, whether they want to or not. As thousands or millions of them become entangled, a ceaseless friction begins, particularly between their hind legs and their body parts. Why specifically the hind legs? It is because highly sensitive nerve cells are densely concentrated on the hind legs of locusts. This very relentless, physical friction stimulus serves as the critical trigger that sets off the impending disaster.

The friction signals starting from the legs are instantly transmitted through the nervous system directly to the locust’s brain. At this moment, a specific neurotransmitter begins to be secreted in a truly explosive manner inside the locust’s tiny brain. What could that possibly be? It is serotonin, which is well known for regulating emotions and happiness in humans. When serotonin fills up the gentle locust’s brain at several times its normal level, an astonishing biochemical awakening takes place.

The very first change to occur is a massive psychological shift. The strong aversion and stress they normally felt toward their own species are wiped away in an instant within the brain. Instead, it transforms into a madness-driven obsession where they feel an immense affinity for their own kind and desperately desire to form a swarm. It is the exact moment when the gentle insect’s genome is completely hijacked by a rampage of hormones.

This frightening hormonal change does not end simply with altering personality and behavior. It becomes the terrifying opening shot of a transformation that completely reshapes the locust’s physical appearance and awakens its destructive instincts. Now, the peaceful green locust is fully prepared to vanish without a trace.

3. The Birth of the Swarm: Awakening into a Giant Phantom Army

The rampage of serotonin that has seized the brain ultimately rewrites the physical structure of the locust entirely. This is not a mere change in personality. It is a bizarre metamorphosis process occurring at the cellular and genetic levels.

The most noticeable change at the very beginning is the color of the body. The peaceful green camouflage color gradually fades away. In its place, a dark brown, a menacing black, or a bright yellow representing a warning begins to fill the exterior. It is a powerful warning directed at predators, signaling that they are right there so do not touch them.

The physical anatomy is also completely redesigned solely for flight and destruction. As muscles develop abnormally, the hind legs actually become slightly shorter. Why is that? It is because they no longer have any need to hop around between blades of grass. Instead, because they must fly across vast distances, their wings grow much longer and sturdier than usual. The muscles in the thorax and jaw are also terrifyingly reinforced. In short, a flawless weapon is completed to chew and swallow every single plant in sight in an instant.

Scientists call the locusts in this terrifying state the gregarious phase. This is the very reality of the immense calamity that our ancestors used to fear and refer to as the locust plague.

When they form a pack, a tremendous madness covers the earth from that moment on. An interesting fact is that the secret behind how this massive army maintains its unity is not a tight-knit camaraderie toward each other. Rather, it is exactly the opposite.

The locusts that have transformed into the gregarious phase suffer from extreme starvation. Therefore, a horrific cannibalistic instinct awakens, driving them to devour their own kind shimmering right in front of their eyes. The locusts in the back charge forward desperately to consume the locusts in front of them to survive. The locusts in front flee frantically to avoid being eaten by their own kind chasing them from behind.

Ultimately, what is the real reason this massive army marches so fiercely in only one direction? It is a sorrowful march created by the causal relationship of a gruesome survival instinct, where they must eat each other and avoid being eaten. The phantom army, born solely to devour, begins its advance, devastating the entire landscape in that manner.

4. The Warning of the Ecosystem: Nature’s Backlash Beyond Human Control

The swarms of billions of locusts that have turned into the gregarious phase now move exactly like a single, massive organism. They form colossal clouds and fly across thousands of kilometers. If they ride the wind, they can travel more than 150 kilometers in a single day. The places they pass through are literally obliterated. In just a few short hours, agricultural crops that could feed tens of thousands of people for an entire year vanish without a trace. It inflicts a truly fatal catastrophe upon the food security of mankind.

A massive question arises here. Why on earth is this large-scale locust calamity occurring more frequently and more powerfully in this current era? Is it simply because the reproductive power of locusts is outstanding? No, it is not. The true cause lies precisely in the causal relationship between human activity and climate change. Due to global warming, unprecedented torrential rains pour down on specific regions. Right after that, an intense drought follows. The heavy rains create a moist soil that is perfect for locusts to lay their eggs, and the drought drives them into narrow patches of grass, inducing the serotonin rampage. In other words, the climate system disrupted by humans has essentially acted as a perfect incubator for creating the locust army.

In the end, the backlash of the locust swarms is not a simple natural disaster. It is a grave warning from the ecosystem, coming back as a boomerang due to human environmental destruction. Even humanity, equipped with advanced science and technology, cannot easily halt the march of these tiny creatures governed by hormones. The locust swarms are demonstrating with their entire bodies how devastating the price of breaking the balance of nature truly is. If humanity chooses to ignore this warning until the very end, the only thing waiting next might be utter destruction.